Apps

Review: ReBoard keyboard boosts your productivity and cuts down on app switching

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 1, 2015

The biggest thing about iOS 8 for me is a productivity boost stemming from new technologies such as pervasive inter-app communications, third-party actions in system-wide Share sheets and more. But for all the good work Apple's done from a productivity standpoint, iOS (version 9 included) still has some way to go before it's capable to exceed multitasking features on Microsoft's Surface tablets or Samsung's Note phablet, for example.

ReBoard, a new software keyboard for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad created by India's independent developer Gursimranjeet Singh, puts useful actions for performing common tasks and all sorts of look ups right into the keyboard itself so you won't need to switch back and forth between apps like an animal.

By embedding useful third-party shortcuts within the context of the keyboard, ReBoard can save you a lot of time and boost your productivity.

Twitterrific for iOS improves accessibility, tag autocompletion, muting, translation and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 1, 2015

Twitterrific, The Iconfactory's freemium Twitter client for the iPhone and iPad, was refreshed in the App Store this morning with a bevy of enhancements, including improvements to username and hash tag autocompletion, a feature introduced in Twitterrific's previous update.

Among other changes, this edition of Twitterrific includes some new quick actions, support for quoted tweets in muffle and muting rules and much more.

Bing for iPhone picks up Interests and News, gains private searching, Apple Watch app and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

Microsoft's Bing for iPhone app was updated last evening with several new features such as Bing Interests, Bing News, a private searching mode, the Popular Now section on your Apple Watch and other enhancements.

I typically use Google's native search app on my iPhone, but Bing saw some rather interesting improvements in recent months. In my personal opinion, Microsoft's search-based app is better designed than Google's with richer descriptions and prettier images.

More importunely, Bing's popular searches feature produces way more relevant results than Google, at least for me.

Dungeon of the Endless is a roguelike and dungeon defense mash-up

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Roguelike games are just about the hardest games to play because of the whole permadeath aspect. What if you were to add a heavy dose of tower defense and action role-playing adventure to your dungeon crawl?

Well, you'd get Dungeon of the Endless, a roguelike that has you sending a party out to protect against waves of incoming enemies. In the meantime, collect goods and upgrade your heroes. The game was previously only on Steam, but is now available on the iPad.

Hyper review: a video magazine for people with busy lives

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

I could literally spend hours on the Internet looking at funny, educational, and inspirational videos. However, I don't have the luxury of spending hours on the Internet. I often miss a lot of the great content that comes out regularly.

Hyper is a video magazine for the iPad that pulls together a few of the top videos every day so you won't end up going down the rabbit hole that is the Worldwide Web, unless you want to. We've got a hands-on app review of Hyper for you today.

Meerkat now supports YES/NO polls, showing photos to watchers and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Meerkat, the popular live video streaming software that competes with Twitter-owned Periscope, today issued a nice little update to its iOS application in the App Store.

With version number bumped to 1.5.4, this edition of Meerkat includes a few enhancements like a revamped feed and the ability to show your watchers photos from your Camera roll.

Perhaps most crucially, Meerkat now includes a polling feature which allows anyone to ask their watchers simple YES/NO questions about anything, as they're broadcasting.

Check out these apps: Forest Spirit, Emo Chorus, Recolor, and more

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Apple's big announcement earlier this week has got us all in a spin. Not only will new iPhone models be unveiled in less than a month, but also the next generation of operating system for both iOS and watchOS will probably have an official launch date. Not to mention Apple TV.

If you need something to keep you calm this weekend, check out our list of apps and games. Don't worry, Sept. 9 will be here sooner than you realize.

Latest Vine update brings Snap to Beat feature and new audio discovery tools

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Twitter-owned Vine has rolled out two major new features to its mobile app which are aimed at improving audio discovery and help “bring the magic of perfect-looping music to everyone.”

For starters, a brand new Snap to Beat feature lets you create Vines with With seamless audio looping. And in an effort to make music a core part of Vine, users can now take advantage of enhancements like a new Featured Tracks section and another new feature that allows them to find out what they're listening to as they watch Vines.

Facebook hits one billion users in a single day for the first time

Cody Lee ∙ August 27, 2015

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that the social network passed a significant milestone this week. On August 24, more than 1 billion people used Facebook in a single day for the first time ever.

"When we talk about our financials, we use average numbers, but this is different," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post this afternoon. "On Monday, 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family."

Nighty Night Circus goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ August 27, 2015

Apple on Thursday named "Nighty Night Circus" its featured App of the Week in the App Store. This means for the next 7 days, you will be able to download the popular bedtime story and lullaby app for kids for free—saving you a solid $3.

The sequel to Apple's 2012 App of the Year, Nighty Night!, Nighty Night Circus allows children to play with a variety of circus animals and tuck them in as they go to sleep. The app features beautiful imagery, great narration and lullaby music.

Instagram now lets you share photos and videos in portrait or landscape mode

Sébastien Page ∙ August 27, 2015

Instagram announced today that users are now able to upload photos and videos in either portrait or landscape mode, on top of the current square format that has became a marquee feature of the app. Available via the Instagram app update version 7.5 on iOS, this new capability will certainly be welcome by many users, as Instagram notes in a blog post that nearly 1 in 5 photos or videos posted on the service aren't in square format.

iOS automation app Workflow picks up Today widget, Health actions, syncing and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 27, 2015

Workflow, the powerful software that makes it relatively simple to automate iOS by chaining multiple actions together, has picked up a Today widget and support for Apple Health actions in its most recent update which hit the App Store this morning.

In addition to the ability to activate your saved workflows directly from the Notification Center's Today view, Workflow 1.3 for iOS has gained yet another useful feature to back up and synchronize your workflows across multiple devices.